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2016 | Doing Business in Connecticut 85 C onnecticut's maritime industry is about to get its own ambassador and salesperson — one whose only job is to promote and market the state's three deep- water ports. Connecticut joined the ranks of other East Coast states this year when it launched a statewide port authority to help grow the $5-billion industry. e newly formed authority's governing board is working to hire an executive director, whose full-time job will be to focus on tapping the economic potential of deep-water ports in Bridgeport, New Haven and New London. "It's a person who wakes up every morn- ing thinking about how to keep our ports competitive," said Bill Gash, executive director for the Connecticut Maritime Coalition, which represents terminal operators, shipping companies and others in the state's maritime industry. "We didn't have that before." Scott Bates, a public policy expert from Stonington who chairs the port author- ity's board, said the authority will focus on "marketing the advantages of our ports, coordinating capital improvements and developing maritime strategies for our shoreline communities." e board started meeting in February and by statute, must develop a maritime strategy for the state by the end of 2016. Unrealized potential While Connecticut's deep-water ports are an economic treasure and a natural com- petitive advantage, they've been underper- forming for years, said Tim Sullivan, deputy commissioner for the state Department of Economic and Community Development. Ports in Bridgeport, New Haven and New London have seen 80-percent declines in the volume of imports since 2006, accord- ing to a 2012 study by the consulting firm Moffat & Nicol. e study blamed much of that decline on the loss of coal and fresh fruit imports into Bridgeport combined with plummet- ing demand for lumber, steel and build- ing materials aer the collapse of the real estate market. "Bridgeport, New London and New Haven are really important assets for our economy that present the opportunity for a lot of job creation and private investment," Sullivan said, noting that 30,000 people are already employed by the state's maritime industry. "But they haven't contributed to the economy in the way that they could." Until now, Connecticut's ports were "relatively invisible" in the global marketplace because there was no statewide agency re- Investing in the Waterfront CT seeks to increase commerce at its ports By Natalie Missakian Connecticut's miles of shoreline are home to three deep-water ports. PHOTO/Shutterstock.com © GccDesigns Photography Continued on page 86 >